What is One Effective Strategy Used by Political Campaigns

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THIS CARD PROVIDES BASIC Information AND ACTIVITIES THAT WILL HELP Y’all CREATE A Entrada STRATEGY. THIS STRATEGY WILL HELP YOU TO STRATEGICALLY SELECT THE Correct TACTICS AND TOOLS, Craft YOUR MESSAGE, CREATE A TIMELlNE, AS WELL AS IMPLEMENT, Certificate AND EVALUATE YOUR CAMPAIGN.

WHAT IS A Campaign STRATEGY?

A campaign can be seen as an organised, purposeful endeavour to create change, and information technology should exist guided by thoughtful planning. Before taking activeness, successful campaigners learn equally much as possible about:

• the existing situation
• who is affected by the campaign issue both positively and negatively
• what changes could amend the state of affairs
• what resources, tactics and tools are bachelor to implement a campaign that volition address the issue.

Campaigners use this knowledge to create their strategy, which guides them in planning, implementing, marketing, monitoring, improving and evaluating their entrada. A campaign strategy should answer the 
post-obit questions:

Problem, Vision, Modify

1. What problem are you lot confronting?
   
2. What is your vision of how the world volition be, once the problem is resolved?
   
3. What change/south would bring about this vision?
   


Stakeholders, Relationships,Targets



4. Who is afflicted, positively or negatively, by the trouble?
   
5. How are these people or groups related to the problem and to each other?
   
6. Who are yous trying to reach?
   
7. If your entrada is successful, who will be afflicted?
   

Answering cardinal questions repeatedly, at each stage of your entrada, about the problem, solution, stakeholders and targets as well every bit the tactics, message and tools you volition use, will assist develop your campaign strategy.

Your campaign strategy will guide what you practise and it should exist updated regularly as the campaign is implemented and the state of affairs changes.

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CREATE A COMMON VISION

It’s useful to involve your whole campaigning grouping in exploring the trouble, your vision and the changes sought: a shared understanding of the problem volition stimulate ideas nearly possible deportment to take, and will also help your grouping to stay motivated and focussed during the entrada. Creating a common vision will also help decide ways to monitor, and adjust the implementation of, the entrada if necessary.

Action 1: Problem – SOLUTION – Change

1. Discuss and decide, equally a group, what core problem your campaign seeks to address. Elaborate all the agin effects of this problem.
   
2. Each person in the group should create their own reply to the following question: What would a world without this trouble exist like?
   
   • Utilize words, diagrams, illustrations.
     
   • Imagine unlimited resources (money, power, etc).
     
   • Discuss and enumerate all the benefits of this proposed world.
     
3. Combine your individual visions of the hereafter to create a single common vision for the campaign. Hash out in depth which broad actions or changes would resolve the problem you identified, then as to make it at the world you have envisioned. These necessary actions are the chief focus of your campaign. Discuss the scope of your campaign: determine whether it has multiple components (sub-campaigns). If it does, you may cull either to narrow the focus of your campaign or create a multiple-campaign strategy.
   

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UNDERSTAND THE Campaign’Due south STAKEHOLDERS

Stakeholders are people, groups, organisations, or institutions that are connected to your issue. They may support your campaign, be adversely afflicted by the result in question, have the ability to change the situation, or even be responsible for the problem you have identified. An important task when designing your campaign is to learn as much about the stakeholders as possible. You lot should:

• Sympathise each stakeholder’s relationship to the trouble and your proposed solution
  
• Define the relationships betwixt unlike stakeholders
  
• Determine the ability and willingness of stakeholders to help or hurt your campaign
  
• Identify which of these stakeholders your campaign should concentrate on to create the change your want.
  

Activity 2: MAPPING STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS


First creating a map in which entities with a pale in your issue are represented equally circles, or nodes, and lines between these circles represent relationships. It is good to utilise sticky papers (mail-it notes) for this activeness because they tin can be moved nearly as required.

1. Talk over the interaction that is at the root of the problem your campaign wants to address. Who creates the trouble? Who is afflicted past it? How and why are these entities connected to one some other?
   
2. Go along, taking notes as you keep, until yous can identify the interaction between entities (nodes) that most represents what you seek to modify.
3. Identify all of the nodes betwixt which this kind of interaction is happening.
4. Identify these nodes at the center of your map.
5. Place the relationships of these central nodes with others nodes on your map. Start locally and motility outward regionally, nationally, internationally and globally, if relevant. Depending on your problem, expand your map with two or more levels of nodes (marker these in a articulate style):
   • First level: entities with direct contact to the central nodes (family / local)
   • Second level: entities with contact to the starting time level (regional / national)
   • Tertiary level: nodes with full general influence on the issue (international / institutional)
     
6. Next, draw lines representing relationships betwixt these nodes and place the kind of relationship they accept; for example:
   
   • Ability
     
   • Mutual benefit
     
   • Disharmonize
     
   • Potential

Afterwards mapping out as many stakeholders as you can, you will have a graphic representation of your stakeholders’ relationships with your issue. Adjacent you should analyse how your stakeholders may assist achieve the change/s you seek.

For more than information on how to do this, see
New Tactics in Human Rights Tactical Mapping
.

Activeness 3: FROM STAKEHOLDERS TO TARGETS



Brainstorm defining specific objective/south of your campaign. Consider each stakeholder’s level of back up and level of influence in the context of your campaign objective/s.

1. In simple, active terms, define what would resolve your problem and bring near the change yous seek. Your objectives should be specific, measurable, doable, realistic, and time-bound.
2. Using the list of the stakeholders from the previous action, place as many as possible who could help achieve your objective.
   
3. 
   
   
   Describe a horizontal and a vertical centrality on a large sheet of blank paper (shown here). Place the stakeholders as follows:
   
   • The vertical axis represents their level of influence in achieving the goal of your objective from most influential (superlative) to to the lowest degree influential (bottom).
   • The horizontal axis represents whether they are probable to oppose (left) or support (right) your entrada.
4. After you identify all the stakeholders on the paper, identify the virtually influential entities or individuals every bit potential primary targets, those who can make the modify you lot seek. Notation their level of support or opposition for this modify.
   
5. Discuss the relationship of these entities to other stakeholders. Y’all may already take this information on your stakeholder map from Activity 2.
   
6. Identify stakeholders who support your campaign and have influence on or relationships with your principal target grouping. They are your secondary targets, or participant groups, who could become actively involved in helping your entrada attain its goals. Locate them on your graph and identify 2 or three participant groups to concentrate on.

(Adapted from
The Change Bureau’s Power Mapping exercise.)

Activity four: FROM TARGETS TO TACTICS

Now you lot have identified the target audiences that your campaign needs to communicate with, and what relationships they have with other entities with a stake in the problem, you lot can consider what tactics will best address your target and participant groups?

1. 
   
   Draw a half-circle, divided into wedges. Identify those who most support your campaign on the left side of the spectrum; those who oppose you the most on the right.
   
2. 
   
   
   Use your maps and sticky papers, placing each target and stakeholder in a wedge according to their level of support for your cause. The result is a spectrum of stakeholders, a few of whom y’all have identified as primary or secondary targets. A 5-wedge diagram would include the following:
   
   1. Active allies: supportive and motivated to achieve your goals
   2. Allies: may do good from your success
      
   3. Neutral parties: may not exist involved or affected currently
      
   4. Opponents: may suffer from your success
      
   5. Active opponents: actively interfere with your activities
3. Utilise this diagram to help determine which tactics to consider, depending on each stakeholder’s location on the spectrum. For instance:
   
   
   1. Supportive: use mobilisation tactics
      
   2. Neutral: utilise educational. visualisation tactics
      
   3. Opposing: use disruption, interference tactics
      

(Adjusted from

New Tactics in Human Rights’ Spectrum of Allies exercise
.)

This card was created by Namita Singh and A. Ravi in collaboration with
Tactical Tech.